Ars Electronica Futurelab created Rope in Space, an interactive installation which puts a neat modern digital twist on the traditional game of tug of war. It permits players in two entirely different locations to play against one another.
Rope in Space may be perceived by one as only a high tech super expensive version of a 3,000 years old game; and this judgment would be complete valid. Though when we think in very nature of it as a web based interface that allows physical interactions we can see the great value that the piece stands for; it makes us think in how poorly we explore the virtual connections, that the internet can be much more than an exchanging of visual data, and the hyper-world can have form, weight and be touched by our own hands.
Check out a demonstration in this video. I’m available for a challenge. Anytime. Anyplace. Bring. It. On.
Amusement Magazine’s “Made of Myth” re-imagines classic videos, created not as bits of data, but rather carved, molded and shaped by skilled artisanal hands, such as Alexei Pajitnov:
Tetris
When Alexei Pajitnov first ordered a load of bricks from Karpov Abramtsevo’s workshop, workers there were wondering who could be interested in all those right-angled blocks. No one in 1985 could have imagined those concrete Tetriminos would become world famous and constitute Russia’s deadliest weapon against Reagan’s America.
This short by Michael Hickox would be right in the middle of a Venn diagram overlapping LEGO, classic arcade games, and stop motion video, which are three popular trends lately in the blogosphere.
A fun and well executed stop-motion animation that recalls seemingly every theme from the 8 bit video game era, the pixelation and MIDI electronic music, and blends it with real life locations. It was created by Tea and Cheese for a UK water-slide themed competition.
